Gavin Grimm was thrust into the national spotlight as an outspoken voice in the fight for trans rights when his local school board passed a discriminatory transphobic bathroom policy aimed specifically at Grimm. The Gloucester County School Board in Virginia passed the policy, which forced trans students to use the bathroom associated with their sex assigned at birth, in 2014.

By ruling in favor of Grimm, Judge Arenda Wright Allen set the lawsuit back into motion. Judge Wright Allen even went so far as to say that Grimm’s case had merit, writing that Grimm “has sufficiently pled a Title IX claim of sex discrimination under a gender stereotyping theory” and that the school board’s argument was “resoundingly unpersuasive.”

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Grimm said, “It’s something we’ve all known for a very long time, that this is illegal and unacceptable, but to finally have the court make that in plain language is really fantastic.”

Grimm’s act of resistance could have huge implications for trans rights across the nation. At the heart of his case is the argument that trans discrimination is already illegal under existing sex discrimination laws including the federal Title IX and existing civil rights law. If it’s appealed to the Supreme Court again and results in a favorable ruling, it could set the standard for protecting trans rights across America. It could effectively invalidate any state’s transphobic “bathroom bill” and potentially protect transgender people in the U.S. in the workplace, housing, public schools, healthcare, and in other places where sex discrimination is already against the law.

In a press statement from the ACLU of Virginia, who represented Grimm, Grimm said, “I feel an incredible sense of relief. After fighting this policy since I was 15 years old, I finally have a court decision saying that what the Gloucester County School Board did to me was wrong and it was against the law. I was determined not to give up because I didn’t want any other student to have to suffer the same experience that I had to go through.”

KaeLyn is a 35-year-old (femme)nist activist, word nerd, and queer mama. You can typically find her binge-watching TV, over-caffeinating herself, standing somewhere with a mic or a sign in her hand, eating carbs, or just generally doing too many things at once. She lives in Rochester, NY with her spouse, a baby T. rex, a xenophobic cat, and a rascally rabbit. You can buy her debut book, Girls Resist! A Guide to Activism, Leadership, and Starting a Revolution if you want to, if you feel like it, if that's a thing that interests you or whatever.